JOIN USThe name Amit Mishra may not ring a bell for many. But if I ask you about the songs, ‘Sau Tarah Ke’ from Dishoom, ‘Manma Emotion’ from Dilwale and ‘Bulleya’ from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, you will definitely start humming. By now, you would’ve guessed that Amit Mishra is the voice behind these songs. Recently, he won the prestigious R D Burman award in the Filmfare Awards ceremony.
Amit, who belongs to Lucknow, came to the fore with the reality show Idea Rocks India in 2009. That is where he met his mentor composer Pritam. Amit says, “I met Pritamda for the first time during the show, but only for a brief amount of time. I remember how he actually saved me from the elimination.”
Talking about his experience on the show, he says, “Participating in that reality show helped me a lot in my career. I have learnt a lot during the show. After a few years, Pritamda called me for some dubbing, which was later sung by some other singer. That phase continued for some time and then I got my break. Going to his studio and meeting all the musicians helped me learn so many things. Overall, that experience was a huge learning curve.”
But how did he get into the world of music? Amit reveals, “I feel music is in every Indian’s genes. I have got very supportive parents and they have never stopped me from pursuing my passion: music. In my family, we are all music lovers and used to listen to the songs sung by Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I was part of the school choir too. But my conventional learning started when I was doing my graduation in Lucknow University. During that time, I also enrolled in Bhatkhande Music Institute to learn music.”
Amit’s vision was very clear when he came to Mumbai. “I knew that Mumbai was the ultimate destination for a musician like me. In 2012, I got my first solo song in Vikram Bhatt’s 1920. It was composed by Chirantan Bhatt,” he says. Amit soon got busy with songs in films like Karle Pyar Karle, Amit Sahni Ki List and others. “I got busy with work and it actually allowed me to learn a lot about the craft.” Interestingly, when Amit got the song ‘Bulleya’ from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, he was not aware that he was singing for Ranbir Kapoor.
Talking about his musical inspiration, Amit feels he has the dynamics of many singers. He explains, “I have a strong influence of the 90s’ songs, which is why I love Suresh Wadkar, Sonu Nigam and Kumar Sanu a lot. Thanks to my family’s musical choices, I have also heard all the songs of Mukesh, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi. Gradually, I also developed a taste for Wadali Brothers. Every musician has different dynamics and they have different projection styles.”
Amit prefers to stay away from all the attention as he feels it is always better to be detached from it all. “From the social networking forum, you get to know your popularity factor. But my team does not allow me to think about anything else. The only thing they believe in is how hard we should work. The rest will follow.”
Talking about Pritam’s contribution in his career, Amit says, “I will always be grateful to him. With him, the first thing we need to know is the melody. He feels we can improvise the rest while recording. Doing live shows with him is a lot of fun. Also, performing with singers like Nakash Aziz, Aditi Singh Sharma, Abhijeet Sawant and Sreeram Chandra is indeed a joyful experience.”
Currently, Amit is working with his label AM Live and says a single is on the way. Talking about his future plans, Amit says, “In the next 10 years, I would like to be an inspiration for others in the field of music. People often talk about how they struggle. But when you are passionate about something, the word ‘struggling’ should not be used. I also hope to become big in the playback singing scenario.”